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Can someone clear something up? I don't believe he was referring to his case coming up after two years. I believe he was referring to someone else's.

If he had some PR sense, he'd write an article for the NY Times about an unwitting American tourist tossed into jail in Spain. Arguing anarchy in Counterpunch is playing into their hands. Hit them where it hurts.

by Upstate NY on Tue May 22nd, 2007 at 02:19:22 PM EST
Don't let your common sense cloud your reading comprehension. He may indeed have to wait for his trial for 2 years in preventative jail, unless he can cough up €30k.
Mine, oddly enough, had landed me in the same prison that once housed many of the anarchist revolutionaries of the Spanish Civil War. Once I arrived, I got down to just about the only thing one can do in prison: waiting, and organizing my new life within its much diminished horizons. At first I was under the impression that trial would come within a few months, but soon I found out it may take two years.
Yes, that's his trial. And then he talks about another trial
On 22 May, another trial starts in Barcelona after two years of waiting, and the verdict may put five innocent people in prison for three years and nine months.
Luckily for them, time spent in preventative prison is discounted from the sentence if they are convicted. Unlickily for them, if they are acquitted compensation from the Spanish state won't be forthcoming.

By the way, I can imagine a reason for the hefty bail, and that is that, being a foreigner, if let free there is substantial risk of flight.

In any case, an American citizen, if that's the case, should have received consular assistance after his arrest (never mind that the US routinely violates that requirement, I won't insist on reciprocity) so if he didn't receive consular assistance that might be grounds to challenge his imprisonment.

Bush is a symptom, not the disease.

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue May 22nd, 2007 at 04:41:08 PM EST
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It occurs to me in passing that the tradition of Consular Assistance dates from an earlier time -- like many of the more gentlemanly traditions of formal warfare -- during which only the gentry travelled for amusement... I rather doubt that e.g. an itinerant British pedlar working both sides of the Channel was ever visited by a member of the dip service when jailed in France, but some Old Etonian boy on the Grand Tour was almost certainly aided and comforted by HM's ambassador's staff if he went on a tear and was rounded up in a foreign city...

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...
by DeAnander (de_at_daclarke_dot_org) on Tue May 22nd, 2007 at 06:45:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh, the consulate can fail to provide assistance, but if the host country doesn't at least offer the arrested person a chance to contact their consulate, they are in violation of due process.

Bush is a symptom, not the disease.
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue May 22nd, 2007 at 06:49:10 PM EST
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